


welcome me, oh forest god

by talonyth



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, More tags later, how do i call this au, i guess forest god au sounds good
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-04-09 16:32:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4356341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talonyth/pseuds/talonyth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a Finnish myth. </p><p>Every week, Hinata hunts out in the dark forest. Every week, he leaves an offering to the God of the Forest, of the Hunters, to the one sharing his land and his animals with them. And every week, he hopes he might see him as silly as it sounds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> did i really start another au, someone needs to arrest me. ACTUALLY REALLY, ARREST SUIKKA!! she was the one who stayed awake until ass o'clock getting excited over european tobios with me that eventually lead her to tell me about the myth of tapio. tapio, tobio, all the same if you ask me. 
> 
> so dedicated to suikka, you're a gem and i pray-hope this version of tobio will be in your tob10. i love you and i hope this will go as you would have wanted it too!

Hinata opens his eyes as soon as he finished his prayer, one he has memorized ever since he was a child, ready to spell it out every waking second of his life. A prayer to a god that granted him, them, everyone living close to the Woods their daily lives. Their food from the animals they hunted, the woods for the houses they lived in, the beds they slept in, the weapons they fought with. 

He was not very skilled as a hunter but Hinata was daring, he was courageous when he didn’t need to be and perhaps that was the reason he was still standing despite entering the oh so feared Woods as of late. 

They’ve grown darker over the years, colder, less inviting than they used to be. So Hinata heard from his father, an aged hunter by now, once famous for his sharpened senses and equally sharp knife. The animals had become more aggressive, more hostile, attacked humans when they once were prone to run away rather than attack. ‘We have angered him,’ his father told Hinata then, ‘We have angered the god who was as kind as to share his creations with us. Who let us live beside him in endless harmony for the small price of a part of our earnings.’ 

Hinata has yet to hear another story about the darkened Woods. That hunters emptied them without returning anything to the god they owed their kill. None of their harvest, none of their prey, none of anything they produced. And so, they were left with a forest that terrified many for people are said to enter it and never return. 

He would never be like them. Hinata would rather die than not keep a promise given even if it is to a deity he can never hope to see. And yet, he knows to be grateful for what he’s been given. Granted not only a bag filled with quarry but his life. In Tobio’s woods, he is nothing but a guest, allowed to hunt, allowed to kill and take for he pays it not only with his bravery but with a part of what he has captured. 

His offerings for this day are simple, a loaf of bread he brought with him and a roe of untold beauty Hinata almost regretted to have killed. But he never offers the worst part of his game. He only ever gives back the best. It’s the only part deserving of a god, laid down on the same stump, every week. And once he returns, the offerings are gone.

He knows Tobio appreciates the gesture. It is why he leaves the forest alive and is able to return home, to his sister and his parents. Despite the cold, uninviting darkness inside the forest, he has never felt mistrust once. ‘You’re too full of yourself!’ he has been told a dozen times by other hunters, ‘One day, you will not return.’ 

Yet Hinata knows he will. Every time. He feels like perhaps, as impudent as it sounds, the god looks forward to his visits. Protects him of all bad. Never once animals had shown to be aggressive towards him. Only as much as hunted animals would be but never of their own accord like others reported to have witnessed. It would be a lie to say he feels safe inside the forest but without a sense of danger, hunting would not be what it is. 

A rustling behind him, he gets up from his knees. Another, and he feels like he is being watched. Sharp eyes, perhaps a wolf? At worst, it is a bear. Those are invincible to him. He could run away, decides to slowly step back onto the path he’d come from and follow the waypoints he set himself back home. Small, oddly coloured stones his sister collected at the outer part of the forest still safe. He picked them up one by one on his way back. 

Usually. But now they were gone. And the way looked different than before. Had he angered him after all? Had he given too little? The forest is alien to Hinata now, trees looking differently than they were before. Like they suddenly moved to obstruct his way. But that was impossible. Obviously it was. Trees do not move. Usually. 

Hinata takes a deep breath, the stump is far out of his sight now, just how long has he been walking? He swears it’s not even been 5 minutes yet--- and then, the rustling gets louder. Hinata’s hand is on his knife, ready to pull it out when he sees a deer coming out of the thick, thorny bushes. It stares at him for a second and Hinata knows how unusual that is. 

Of all animals, deers approach humans the least. They run away rather than get closer to them yet this particular one, not only does it look at him, it passes him by. Walks with slow steps past him as he tries to keep his breath steady should it attack him. But it doesn’t. 

It gives off an air of elegance, of pride and confidence when Hinata feels it close to him and for a second only, he swears it looked down to him. Its eyes were cold, uncharacteristically so for a deer. They are warm creatures, the kings of the forest. Hard to catch, harder to kill for Hinata. It makes him feel truly guilty although he knows their spirits return to the forest itself, to Tobio, eventually. 

There is something about the deer that makes Hinata follow, something unearthly, something ineffable, like he swallowed down his tongue whole when the animal crossed his path. It keeps up a slow pace, unfazed by Hinata following it as if it was expecting him to. He thinks he might have died earlier and this all is an episode of his afterlife.

He hopes it is not. 

The deer brings him back to the stump, his offerings still laying out, the bread and the roe yet next to it, a figure stands. Hinata’s heart stops as he sees. The animal beside him walks up to the figure, human-looking, yet Hinata knows, _he feels_ this is no human who stretches out his hand towards the deer. It follows his unspoken order, nudging the other’s hand with its rostrum for it to be returned with a gentle stroke. 

Perhaps Hinata would have believed him to be human if not for the antlers adorning his head, their ends buried in the blackest hair Hinata ever set his eyes upon. Not bigger than the deer’s antlers but certainly larger than Hinata would have expected a human neck to carry, twisting around the other’s head like a wreath. Antlers curling and contorting in a very symmetrical manner no deer could ever have. It was a sight Hinata has never seen - and never expected to. Humans with antlers were barely a thing to even dream of.

It was out of question he was another hunter despite his clothes. A high-cut harness, very likely made of leather, the best Hinata had ever seen once more, covering his entire neck, embellished by feathers as black as his hair. It might be one of the reasons his posture is abnormally straight, head held high, nose raised, resembling the deer opposite of him more than a human being. 

His skin is pale, seemingly cold to the touch although Hinata hasn’t laid a finger on him. How could he? This person seems out of his reach despite their proximity. It is just a few steps yet it feels like he can’t move an inch closer. 

Hinata doesn’t have to hear an introduction. He recognizes the belt, the boots the villagers made. He was the one who brought them as offerings from them, after all. Offerings to a god who grants them their kill, their food and their homes. The King of the Wilderness, the Master of Animals, the God of the Woods and the Hunters.

No other words drip from Hinata’s lips than the prayer he has repeated thousands of times, inside of the Woods and outside of them. He can’t tear his eyes away as he opens his mouth. “King of the Wilderness, appease me, comply with my wishes, take me to the hillock with your hare, give me my kill…. for I will give you my offerings at your free will.”

His eyes are cold when he turns to look at Hinata and Hinata’s first instinct is to flee. To run. To hide. But he is aware that these are _his_ woods, this is his land and Hinata has no place to run to. None the god wouldn’t know of. 

“I do not trust a human’s words. They mean nothing to me. Your prayers are naught.”

There is a bitterness in his words reflected in his eyes as well. They must be true, then. All the stories he has heard. They angered and enraged him… was what Hinata thought. But all he sees and hears is disappointment and pain inflicted by whom he once decided to trust. 

“...You saved my life too often for me to believe that. You could have let me die in your forest at any time.”

The god raises an eyebrow with slight interest, neck seeming much longer than it might be because of his harness. He gives off the same air as the deer before him. “I do not remember saving a human child’s life.”

“I’m not a child,” is the first thing Hinata retorts yet flinches when Tobio throws him a look scarier than an entire night in the Woods. “I-I mean. I… know you have. You know who visits you. You know who comes and who leaves, you get to decide who does. And I am grateful you granted me my way home and food to take with me. It must mean nothing to you what I say but… thank you. For everything. For sharing your forest with us, your home and your animals. For giving us a place to stay and food to survive. For expecting so little back from us although we take so much from you. Truly, thank you.”

He has never spoken to a god before, how would he, but Hinata feels, perhaps simply imagines, that the cold expression Tobio wore before softens slightly albeit still stern yet not unforgiving. Like hope lingers within him, the last speck of it for all Hinata knows, but he hasn’t given up on them. Not quite yet. 

“You. Human child. You will return if I let you go, will you not?” His voice sounds strong to Hinata, almost resounding within him as well, speaking to yet also through him. It is a funny feeling, he decides. 

“I will if you will welcome me again!” There are no worries within him anymore, no doubts, no fears. There is nothing to fear of a god he loves more than anything else for all the gifts he bestowed upon them. “...And if you stop calling me ‘child’. I am no child.”

“You say, yet you are so small,” Tobio retorts and Hinata doesn’t know when he stepped closer. They are suddenly but a single step away, the deer having placed itself comfortably on the ground. When did this happen…? He would wonder about that more if it weren’t for his irritation.

“I’m not a child,” Hinata repeats and quickly adds, “And my name is Hinata.” All things considered, he remembers now why people say he is brave and courageous when he shouldn’t be. Talking back to a god who could kill you in less time than you can say deer is probably a bad idea.

“Hinata. It sounds silly.”

Actually, it sounded absolutely gorgeous in Tobio’s voice, deep yet soft as silk. It reminds Hinata of his surroundings, a forest so dark so cold yet there is a fragility to it that the darkness seems to want to hide. 

“The next time you come, bring some more of this bread. I am quite fond of it.”

Hinata can’t help but grin. “I will give my sister your regards, oh God of the Forest.”

“Tobio,” he simply says and suddenly his scrunched-up expression makes him seem so very human, “It’s Tobio.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it only took me almost a year. i haven't forgotten about this, i just never found the time haaa i hope you'll enjoy!

Tobio, it turns out, is much less like what his first impression suggested when they first met. Hinata kept his promise of bringing him his sister’s bread every time he would come to the forest as Tobio kept his unspoken promise of keeping him safe and alive throughout his hunts. With every offering, Tobio showed a little more of himself. Involuntarily, that is. 

“You’re crumbling all over your harness,” Hinata says, pushing his laughter back down into his lungs with effort. Even if Tobio isn’t as graceful and godlike after all, there is no need to get insolent. Not all the time, at least. He flinches at a squirrel jumping on his head out of nowhere and curling up in his hair with small claws digging into his scalp uncomfortably. 

One of the side-effects of being in favour with Tobio is the constant company of smaller animals. Bunnies, squirrels, birds,they all come flocking around Hinata ever since. He is grateful enough Tobio isn’t sending wolves or bears his way. Especially latter. As cuddly as they might seem, one paw seems like it could knock him into oblivion and Hinata thankfully declines making that experience. 

Tobio turns to him, cheeks stuffed with bread. It’s hard keeping a straight face at the sight of a god, beautiful and graceful with antlers adorning his head, in a clad of a hunter more powerful than any - gulping down his food without minding to chew first. It is almost impressive how misleading his appearance is. 

But Hinata isn’t foolish enough to forget that Tobio could easily let him die if he wanted to. Neither does he plan on letting his faith waver. Tobio was, is and will be the reason they survive. Being allowed to see him, to speak to him, to Hinata every day is a miracle. The more time he spends with Tobio, the more it feels like he wants to believe it is the same for the god. 

He doesn’t seem to mind Hinata’s slip-ups, forgetting in whose presence he is. Sometimes, rarely, Hinata thinks Tobio might even prefer being talked to casually than highly. He does make clear he is of another world and yet, it never seems as if he likes the isolation of it. Wanting to draw a border yet longing to see what is outside of it at the same time. 

Had humans hurt him that gravely? Their selfishness and greed must have left Tobio shocked. Wounded. They used to live in harmony. Now all Hinata hears is complaints and curses over a god that abandoned them. If only they had kept to the rules. They weren’t difficult to remember, the prayer carved into them since they had been children. Hinata had never been deemed smart and yet he knew as much. 

So why couldn’t they?

Tobio brushes the crumbs from his face and off his harness, birds picking the grass for them right away. He doesn’t seem to mind that he’s a human much when they are together. Although initially careful, Tobio opens up, bit by bit. Just like an animal would. “Will you bring me more?”

Hinata snorts. “Oh mighty forest god, if that is your wish, it shall be my command,” he hums with a smile on his lips at the genuine expression on Tobio’s face. 

Truth to be told, he forgets about it. He forgets that Tobio is the god of the forest, the master of the animals. That he is the force in the Woods, that they have darkened, that it has become a scary place. 

Tobio never minds. 

He grimaces and crosses his arms, one particularly hungry bird hopping onto his lap and picking small crumbs off his harness without any worry. His posture is perfect, straight back, shoulders drawn back with his head held high as ever. None of the animals fear him. None of them run. They are a part of this forest, of him as humans used to be before. 

They could have received the same treatment, the same kindness with which Tobio picks up the small bird in his palms, caresses its feathers with his fingers carefully. He flinches again at the feeling of the squirrel scurrying away, marks left on his scalp for sure. Hinata clenches his fists and hops off the stump with renewed determination. 

He would fix what they messed up. He would fix it for the villagers, he would fix it for Tobio too. He would do whatever to mend his wounds and make him approach humans again like in older days. To break down the borders and distance he sets. 

His wish is Hinata’s command. It will always be. 

“Are you leaving?” Though his eyes remain to be piercing, they lost all of the cold, all of the dark they had when they first met. It only gets harder to remember for Hinata. It never defeats his purpose though. Never will. 

“I haven’t brought you anything but bread lately,” Hinata says, strapping his bow to his back. He omits saying he spends time like this rather than hunting. Watching Tobio being so mundane, incredibly so, telling him about his village without ever mentioning the bad parts. He figures Tobio knows of those well enough. 

“I do not mind.”

Of course he says that. Hinata wonders how often Tobio’s told that to himself. To the point where his forest had gone dark, the air cold and the animals rabid. Humans robbing him of what he gives them so readily - but he doesn’t mind. 

“I’ll bring you some of the sweet bread my mother makes too, next time. And a roe, if I find one again. For I will give you my offerings at your free will.”

Tobio doesn’t say anything, bird in his hands twittering happily. If only he had minded, they would have never grown as impudent. Tobio would have never grown as distant either, as unbelieving, as yearning. 

Of all things that surprised Hinata the most about Tobio over time, it hadn’t been his inexplicable love for bread, his surprisingly clumsy words nor his messy way of eating that struck Hinata the most. 

It had been his loneliness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #tobiofordisneyprincess

**Author's Note:**

> please tell me why do aus happen to me
> 
> in case you are curious about the tapio myth, [here](http://www.finnishmyth.org/FINNISH_MYTHS_GODS/TAPIO.html) it is + hinata's prayer ofc too except for the last line but i really kinda wanted things to rhyme WHOOPS
> 
> also /please/ check out [this gorgeous illustration](https://twitter.com/Butsu_kun/status/622116422660046849) by [my fav nugget quinn](https://twitter.com/Butsu_kun), i will forever be stunned by it GOD. same goes for [this super amazing and fierce tobio](https://twitter.com/reiconcorps/status/624951964422565888) by the lovely [cherry](https://twitter.com/reiconcorps)!


End file.
